Car-seal.



No. 629,5". Patented My 25, I899. A, LA VEEN.

DAB SEAL.

(Application filed Aug 11, 1898.) (No Model.)

In: mums wnzns co" pncmuhn. WASNINUIOK n. :24

UNITED T STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW LA VEEN, OF WILLOW CITY, NORTH DAKOTA, AS SIGNOR OF ONE HALF TO E. B. KENEFIO, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,511, dated July 25, 1899. Application filed August 11, 1898. Si-ialllo. 688,345. @Toniodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW LA VEEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Willow City, in the county of Bottineau and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Seals; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use'the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a simple and efficient car-seal of exceedingly small cost; and to these ends it consists of the novel device hereinafter described, and defined in the claim.

It is a well-settled fact that a car-seal to be of any practical value must not only be efficient for the purposes had in view, but must be of such exceedingly small cost that the aggregate cost to a railroad company of the use of such devices will not be great. By my invention I meet these two requirementsto wit, efficiency and low cost.

My inven tion is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate likeparts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a portion of a car with my improved seal applied inworking position to the hasp-pin of the hasp and staple latch device therein employed. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the seal removed, but with its ends sealed together; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of said seal with its ends detached.

1 indicates a portion of the side of a car, and 2 indicates a portion of the car-door. The car-door is shown as provided with an ordinary hasp 3, secured thereto by a staple or eye 4 and provided at its free end with a perforation 5, and the car is shown as providedwith an ordinary staple or eye 6', adapted to pass through said perforation 5. An

- ordinary hasp-pin 7, provided at its lower end with the ordinary perforation through which the seal is passed, is itself passed through the staple or eye 6 to hold the hasp 3 in position and the door 2 closed. 8 indicates a chain which secures the hasp-pin to the body of the car. This much is all ordinary construction.

a indicates the body of the seal, which is in lips a that are formed by stamping the same from the body of the seal. These ears or when turned up preferably diverge from each other toward their outer ends and, as shown in Fig. 3, they incidentally form a perforation a between them. The end of the seal having the perforation a is readily passed through the perforation in the lower end of the hasp-pin 7, as shown in Fig. 1, and after this has been done the ears 0. may be very easily sprung, so as to pass through the perforation a, and may then be pressed down, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to secure the ends of the seal together.

As the lips orears a diverge slightly, an ordinary seal press or pliers may be used to tightly press the ears or lips a into sealing or folded position. As the diverging lips 01. have more or less spring, they may be passed through the perforation a, and they will then hold the seal temporarily in position without being bent down. I

In Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings the seal is indicated as being made of quite heavy metal. This, however, very much exaggerates the actual thickness of the metal, which is so shown only for the purposes of clearer illustration of the other features of construction. In practice I use a very thin and quite brittle metal, which has such ductility that it will bend short only once without breaking. By the use of a suitable tool the ears orlips a when bent down may be given very sharp angles at their folding-points, and this will further contribute to make it impossible to again bend up the same without breaking.

The seal may of course be made of any suitable size either as to length or width; but it should be of such dimensions as to permit the number, date, 650., to be stamped or marked on the body of the same, where they may be easily read.

As is obvious, the device is extremely simple and is of very trifling cost. In fact, it will cost no more than the ordinary metallic strip which is usually employed in conncction with other parts in sealing devices now in general use.

It will be understood that certain minor changes in construction may be made Within the scope of my invention.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

A car-seal, comprising the strip a of thin and brittle metal, provided at one end with the single rectangular perforation 0t and provided at its other end, with the integrallyformed pair of spring lips or cars a formed by being stamped from said strip, thereby leaving the intervening opening a, said lips 

